Will Offering Breakfast All Day Help To Save McDonalds?
McDonald’s product managers have a problem. They work for one of the most successful restaurants in the world. Yes, it seems like there is a McDonald’s on every corner of every town. The company has been making less money lately. You still have to be capable of turning a battleship even if you drive it. McDonald’s product managers must find a way for their product development to be changed in order to increase the company’s profits. They have an idea: offer breakfast every day!
Motivation to Make a Change
Product managers often ask themselves the question, “Why mess with success?” It would seem that McDonald’s product managers would focus on keeping the ship moving forward and not considering radical changes. You would probably have been right up until a few years back. McDonald’s was a giant, and no one could stop their success.
But things have changed over the last few years. McDonald’s reported recently that their financial results showed that same-store sales had fallen 4% compared to the previous year. McDonald’s is worried about this drop in sales. McDonald’s has a new CEO who recognizes the problem. He announced his intent to transform McDonald’s from the burger chain it is now into a progressive, modern burger business.
The big question the McDonald’s product managers are now trying to answer is how to make this transformation happen. They have taken many creative steps. They have announced that they will stop using chickens that might contain antibodies over the next two years to prevent their customers from becoming immune to them. They may also consider reducing their menu, which franchise owners feel has become too crowded with too many choices.
There are problems with offering breakfast all day.
The changes suggested by the McDonald’s product managers are all probably positive steps. It’s clear, however, that they won’t have enough impact on the bottom line. The product managers now propose to offer McDonald’s breakfast items throughout the day.
To be clear, all-day breakfast is not something McDonald’s product managers are ready to offer to their customers. They are instead planning to test the idea in McDonald’s restaurants in San Diego. These stores will allow customers to order McMuffins and Hash Browns as well as hotcakes throughout the day once they are implemented.
McDonald’s must resolve many practical issues before it can roll out this new plan. The most significant problem is that the grills they have aren’t large enough to cook both breakfast and lunch at once. Breakfast foods are also cooked at different temperatures for lunch and dinner. The stores offering all-day breakfast will ultimately have to evaluate the results and decide if it was worth the effort.
What Does All This Mean for You?
I am sure that all of us would love to wear the shoes worn by McDonald’s’ product managers. They work for one of the largest and most successful restaurant chains in the country. Our product manager job description shows that even giants can have problems. McDonald’s has suffered a decline in sales, and it is now up to the product manager to rectify the situation.
They have taken several steps already to encourage people to eat more at McDonald’s. They have decided to stop using chickens with antibiotics in them and are working to reduce the size of their menu. They also plan to offer breakfast all day. To see how it goes, they will conduct a trial. They will need to iron out some details.
The courage of McDonald’s product managers is something to behold. They are willing to take risks. If they do it right, offering breakfast all day seems like a good idea. We’ll all need to watch and wait as product managers. Are the McDonald’s product managers able to conduct a successful experiment and draw valuable lessons from the data they collect?
